The Good Kid
by and then again
Summary: Rory and Jess.rnThey resumed their new favorite activity, intent of never stopping to examine this beautiful thing that was growing between them. Like moths to a flame
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I own nada.

"_I got the good kid" _

Before she can stop herself, Lorelai remembered several moments, that date far into the past but are still so sharp. Rory reading, always reading. At her age, Lorelai had been drinking, laughing, and shimmying down trees and hopping into a boy's car which was stealthily waiting in the street-**motor running**. Rory studying for lifetimes, it seemed, and setting her sights on Harvard-the prize, at the grand age of six. Lorelai's prize had been the sound of ice cubes in a glass, submerged in something contraband from her parent's liquor cabinet and a tall boy smiling down at her. Preferably occurring simultaneously.

Herself, listening outside Rory's bedroom, breathe abated, hearing Paris talk about losing her virginity and demanding what Rory had felt when she lost hers.

Her heart had stopped there. Her baby. Her Rory. Having sex? Studying and reading, yes but sex, surely not.

She was put out of her misery when she heard Rory's voice, clear as a bell, explaining the time wasn't right for her yet.

Ah, her glee. Her hypocritical maternal pride at that moment was astounding.

"_I got the good kid," _she had whispered to herself.

Pausing briefly, to feel good about herself and a little bit sorry for all the mothers who hadn't been blessed with a Rory, with a good one, including her own mother.

Yes, Lorelai had been many things as a teenager. Charming, smart, coquettish and always up for something new. However she had never even come close to being like Rory, perfection. She was reminded of that every Friday night dinner-sitting and hearing her parents, her horrible, stiff, and cold parents, just glow and gush about Rory. Lorelai didn't mind though. She knew Rory deserved it, this praise, this wonderment. And she used that bit of pride she felt at Rory's accomplishments, the credit that her parents refused to give to her-for contributing in the smallest bit to Rory's character, to salvage her wounds.

Lorelai loved talking about Rory and hearing people talk about Rory. She would could never squelch that feeling, that fleeting perfect moment-

"_I got the good kid"_

Lorelai kept this all in mind as she sat on her couch, waiting. Waiting for her Rory, her good kid, to come home. Lorelai tried to stay calm as the clock ticked way past curfew, a new concept in the Gilmore way of life.

_Rory had never needed a curfew when she was with Dean_, Lorelai thought bitterly.

And Lorelai had never been so scared she was losing her good kid, her Rory, in the age of Dean.

-

_God this was different_, Rory thought.

Making out in a car with a boy. Who would have guessed she was the type?

Well, she supposed, Dean wasn't really the making out in the car type of boy. At least he hadn't been with her. Jess, however, appeared to have been born to make out in cars with girls.

Girls?

Rory Gilmore's previously haze-filled blue eyes widened imperceptibly.

She squinted at the back of Jess' head, which was currently burrowing into her neck. Was this all mechanical to him? With Dean everything had been new territory. It was necessary to progress from dry pecks to smooches to petting to well that's where it stopped. With Jess, Oh boy. Things could not be more different. Jess was constantly touching Rory. Rory was constantly wanting Jess to touch her. Jess, it seemed, had all the answers. Rory was forever catching her breathe and trying to catch up with Jess in situations, well, like this. Not just making out in cars, but making out under bridges, on piers, in Luke's apartment on the sofa- horizontally and vertically. With Jess, Rory felt inexperienced only because he seemed to be so experienced.

Suspicious thoughts took hold of Rory's attention. Was she one of many? Was Jess just going through the motions…did it even matter whether she was her or could she have just been a random girl of the street that Jess had made some witty comment to and they ended up making out in his car. Did Jess kiss everyone like this?

With that Rory sat straight up, depriving Jess of the pale skin on her neck he had been being so attentive to.

"What's wrong?" He asked, his dark eyes watching her.

Rory took a breathe.

"I think we need to talk."

Jess rubbed a hand through his hair, lazily.

"About what?"

"well …this what we are doing."

Jess smirked at her. Her innocence equally delighted him and pissed him off.

"What are we doing, Rory?"

Her eyes widened, genuinely hurt at the cavalier tone.

"Well you know, all this touching and other activities that are going down. We should discuss it."

"Too much discussion and examining can kill a good thing, you know?"

"Oh boy, you obviously haven't been around the Gilmore clan enough because we are mighty supporters of discussion and examination. You know on rainy days when other kids played Parcheesi, well my mom and I, we'd analyze things for fun"

Jess looked at her skeptically.

"Well fine, you don't seem like a big Parcheesi person but other people were, I mean not people I know personally, but you sure hear talk of Parcheesi often enough and usually in conjunction with rainy days. Jess," Rory despaired, "you know what I mean and you know what I want to talk about."

"Oh yeah. Could you maybe clarify what it is exactly that you wish to discuss?" Jess said, forever the smart-ass.

Rory's eyes furrowed threateningly, but before she could say anything, Jess kissed her-sweet and soft.

Rory felt herself relax into it, and just as she was about to respond Jess pulled away.

"Was that what you wanted to examine?" Jess looked at her, eyes full of mischief, "Or maybe you wanted to talk about this"

And with that he kissed her again, this kiss being one that would have put her grandmother into apoplectic shock, Rory was sure. Through her kissing haze, Rory felt a hand graze her thigh, then her upper thigh, then right under where her blue plaid Chilton skirt had bunched to. Jess' hand didn't remove itself, as she would have expected, and Rory noted, with a slightly sickly feeling, it was continuing its path. Up, up, and "OH".

Rory sat up again and crossed her legs, all in one furious girl motion.

Jess glanced at her, "so that's what you wanted to talk about."

But as her embarrassment faded, Rory found she had no desire to talk. She didn't' want to know about any of Jess' past girlfriends. She just wanted to be here, in this car, with him.

Jess had shifted on to his side of the car, clearly expecting a reprimand.

Rory slid herself over and tucked her head under his chin. They sat there for a moment, a sight that even the most hardy Dean-fans would have had to admit to finding sweet and endearing.

Of course it seemed, as any Dean-fan of Stars Hollow would add knowingly, nothing seemed to stay just sweet between these two for long.

Rory lifted her head up so her lips were once more available to Jess' experienced mouth. She felt his tongue lightly on her lips and she responded, eagerly. A few moments later they were completely entwined and Jess' hands were wandering again except this time Rory's weren't exactly idle. She moved them from his arms to his hair to down his back, nothing that sweeping them down his back, seemed to make him kiss her even more enthusiastically, if possible.

Jess pulled away again and Rory heard herself whimper without meaning to. She missed the contact immediately.

"Rory", Jess' dark and intensely powerful eyes bored into hers, making her slightly uncomfortable like he was seeing through her, "this is how you want it right? I mean you aren't unhappy right now, here with me. You don't want me to be just another Dean; you chose me because you wanted this?"

Rory felt herself returning his gaze and letting all of her worries seep out of her mind.

She couldn't believe it. Here she was on her back in a boy's car, seriously making out. And she wouldn't rather be anywhere else.

"This is what I want, Jess. Of course I don't want you to be another Dean. I want you," Rory whispered, feeling the most honest and open in a long time.

Jess rewarded with a smile. A real full one. One that most people of Stars Hollow hadn't seen and if they had, they would surely understood what it was about him that Rory Gilmore couldn't stay away from.

They resumed their new favorite activity, intent of never stopping to examine this beautiful thing that was growing between them. Like moths to a flame.

"Rory" Jess whispered into her throat, "You were wrong. I am a big Parcheesi person."


	2. The Great Divide

Rory walked up the path to her house, knowing Jess was watching her from his car window. She opened the door as quietly as possible, trying to slide in silently. With any other boy Rory might have felt guilty about breaking the rules. However, this time she loved it. She was a girl with secrets. It felt wonderful, like all these beautiful things that happened between her and Jess were constantly about to explode to the surface of her skin and come out her eyes and mouth.

Rory tiptoed to the window, about to send an air kiss to Jess when she heard her mother's voice, so soft and sharp, cut through the darkness of the room.

"It's about time."

She turned surprised.

"Mom, I didn't think you'd still be up."

Lorelai stood up, frowning and her eyes blazing.

"Yeah Rory, I didn't think I would be either. But that's what happens when your daughter goes out at night with a boy you can't trust and doesn't come home at the time she promised to."

Rory stepped back, hurt from the harsh words her mother had flung at her.

Why did she have to be so angry about this? It was just one time and as if Lorelai hadn't made breaking curfew a habit when she was Rory's age. Why did she have to ruin this perfect floating feeling that Rory had?

Rory tried to handle this in a reasonable way.

She started calmly, "Mom, I'm sorry I came home late. It was irresponsible and inconsiderate because I should have known you would be worried. But it was just one time and tonight was…"

Rory was cut off as her mother's shake of her head and deadly decree, "I don't want you to see him anymore."

"What?"

"Rory, this is really for the best. I mean what about your plans? What about Harvard?"

Rory stood agape before her mother, completely lost at this.

"What does Jess have to do with Harvard?"

Lorelai waved her hands.

"Everything Rory. That boy is like poison. He's going to make you forget all your plans. I mean it's already happening. Breaking curfew and sneaking in. That's not like you Rory. Soon you will be only doing the things he wants you, if you aren't already."

"You are right. Sneaking in isn't like me. It's like you and that's what you are so scared of, that I will turn out like you. Well don't worry mom, I'm not going to get pregnant." Rory said icily.

A silence fell between them. These were the harshest words they had ever exchanged, and yet neither could take them back.

Rory took a breathe. This had been one of the most perfect nights and she needed all of these bad feelings to go away. She loved her mother, she just wished she would try a little harder to understand what Rory was going through right now. She was in love and something wonderful had happened to her tonight and all she wanted was to keep that feeling without her mother breaking it.

"Mom. Please don't be angry. I didn't mean what I just said. It's just …something special happened tonight and I really would like to share it with my mother, the person I love the most in the world, and now that she will be happy for me."

Lorelai flinched, "I'm not sure I can do that Rory. I'm not ready to hear this."

Lorelai's mind was already spinning. Her daughter slipping away into a car with a boy. Her daughter, her Rory, had done god's knows what in the hours of the night when she was supposed to be at home, sleeping in her bed. Her fear that Rory had gone way to far tonight had made her spend all night sitting on the couch, listening for cars in the distance, and clutching the pillows tightly to her chest.

But Rory, Rory didn't know any of that. All she knew is she had this unbelievable piece of news, this incredible moment trapped in her skin and all she wanted to do was to tell someone.

"Mom," her eyes shining with happiness, " Jess told me he loved me tonight."

Lorelai sighed, unable to look at the happiness in her daughter's eyes right now.

"Of course he did Rory. That's what boys like him tell girls like you before they sleep with them."

Rory couldn't breathe for that moment. She felt like her mother had just slammed something so incredibly heavy on her and it was crushing everything she had in her body. She gasped for air.

"I didn't sleep with Jess."

She hated the look of relief in Lorelai's eyes. She hated her for being so hypocritical and self-righteous. What if she had slept with Jess? Would Lorelai just turn on her like this. Wasn't it her decision and her life?

Lorelai turned to her in the darkness of the room. Her eyes, calm now, silently asked her to forget all these words.

Rory knew that couldn't happen. That beautiful feeling under her skin had evaporated and she could hardly remember that special moment now. All she could see was her mother's face when she demeaned everything Jess and her had.

Rory took a breathe and felt her body shake with anger unparalleled in her young life.

"From now on, you have no right to talk to me about Jess or what I do with Jess or even anything that happens in my life. None at all. You don't know Jess. You have nothing but your stupid assumptions about him. You refused to even try to know him. And that's fine because I don't want you to try anymore. I will never ask you what you think about him again because I don't care. Jess loves me. He loves me. Do you know how happy I was tonight? You ruined that. You took it from me and you didn't even try to understand what it meant to me."

Rory took a step closer, her eyes blazing blue.

"I know what you think. You don't think Jess is good enough for me. You don't think Jess is good enough for your perfect little daughter. Well I'm the one who decides this. Jess is good enough for me; he is good for me. You are the one who is not good enough to judge what we have."

And with that Rory made for her room, blindly knocking things over as she went, and slammed her door.

Lorelai stayed outside.


End file.
